Spare a thought for Sky Sports interviewer Martin Gillingham, who didn’t have the faintest idea what was going on. He spoke to ESPN:

“I’d been down to training at Saracens earlier in the week for research,” he [said]. “There was no inclination of what was going to happen.

“After the game I got a call to run down to do the post-match interview, and I did the interview, and, you know how it goes, at the time you’re listening but it doesn’t sink in because of the adrenaline. I thought it was a bit strange, and when we stopped, I turned around and saw the dropped jaws. Then it sank in.”

So what the bloody hell was Venter actually thinking? Turns out he was inspired by a film called Mike Bassett: England Manager, a mockumentary focusing on Britain’s obsession with football:

In the 2001 film, England football coach Dave Dodds is interviewed by the press and does nothing more than repeat the questions put to him…

Venter watched the film on a recent away trip to Gloucester and subsequently chose to use it as the model for his apparent protest against the €25,000 fine handed down to him after he aired what he considered an “honest” opinion following his team’s loss to Leinster in October.

A creative protest, if you will, and one that many sports fans still remember to this day.